Latest Game Tuner update removes some features for ‘simplification’

Samsung seems to be dialing back on the functionality that its Game Tuner app provides. Since its original release three years ago, Game Tuner has received a number of updates that have added new game tuning controls. While some recent updates have removed minor functionality, the latest Game Tuner release removes a few major options. According to Samsung, this is to simplify the features offered by Game Tuner and to bring the app closer to its original design.

Game Tuner is returning to its simpler original form

The biggest change is the removal of preset modes that apply universally to all games. Now, Samsung wants you to individually adjust various parameters for every game. That doesn’t exactly simplify things, does it? It does make for a cleaner interface, though, as you can see in the image below. Some of the game parameters you could modify have been removed as well: You can no longer adjust texture quality and brightness levels for a game. Finally, the ability to adjust a non-game app’s resolution has been dropped as well.

The latest version of Game Tuner (version 3.4.04) is available on the Play Store. If you would prefer to remain on the older, more feature-packed version, you should avoid installing the update (be sure to disable auto update for Game Tuner from its page on the Play Store on your phone or tablet). You can also download the APK file for the previous version (3.3.11) from our APK section and sideload it on your phone manually. Do let us know if Game Tuner is something you use frequently and what you think of the latest update.

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Samsung files a motion challenging damages in lawsuit against Apple

In the never-ending legal battle between Apple and Samsung over patent infringement, a jury ruled in favor of Apple last month and asked Samsung to pay $539 million in damages for infringing design and utility patents belonging to Apple. It appears Samsung is in no mood to give up and is embarking on a legal battle again.

“The jury’s verdict is excessive”

According to a Law350 report, Samsung, which was unhappy with the jury’s verdict, has filed a post-trial motion asking the court to ‘grant it judgment as a matter of law or hold a new trial.’ Samsung believes the jury’s verdict was not supported by the evidence. The motion says, “The jury’s verdict is excessive and against the weight of the evidence on each and every issue identified above, and … the evidence supports a verdict of no more than $28.085 million.”

Samsung’s contention with the verdict is centered around the argument that the jury considered the “relevant article of manufacture” for one of Apple’s design patents applies to the entire phone. The company, however, believes the patent which is about the layout of icons on the home screen, a GUI component, has nothing to do with other parts of the smartphone, and thus the damages should be restricted to the value of the infringed parts.

In a separate motion, Samsung has also asked the court to reimburse the $145 million it paid to Apple as damages over an invalid touchscreen patent (No. 7,844,915). The Korean company argued in the motion that since this patent has been invalidated by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Apple should repay the damages along with interest. This patent was not part of the retrial, but a jury in 2012 found Samsung guilty of infringing this patent and was ordered to pay damages.

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Samsung’s next flagship processor is expected to be an absolute ripper

We reported a couple of months back that Samsung has started developing the Exynos 9820 chipset, it’s the company’s flagship Exynos processor that it’s going to debut with the Galaxy S10 next year. It launched the Exynos 9810 in January this year so if history is any indication, Exynos 9820 is what Samsung will call its next flagship chipset.

It’s already expected to deliver significant performance gains but if word on the street is to be believed, the Exynos 9820 is going to be an absolute ripper compared to ARM’s latest CPU.

Samsung’s next flagship processor

Twitter-based leakster Ice Universe, who has been right on some accounts in the past, claims that Samsung’s custom Mongoose M4 performance core will exhibit performance that’s “far beyond” that of the Cortex-A76 which is ARM’s latest CPU.

For those who are unaware, the performance-focused cores in Samsung’s custom chipsets are called Mongoose and its next flagship chipset is expected to feature its Mongoose M4 core. It’s said that the performance of this core will be significantly better than that of the Cortex-A76.

This also raises the possibility that the clock speed of the M4 could be higher than that of the Cortex-A76. ARM has previously said that the Cortex-A76 will be able to reach speeds of up to 3.30GHz so it could mean, at least in theory, that the Mongoose M4 may be able to reach speeds of over 3.30GHz. This is pure speculation at this point in time, though.

It has also been said that the efficiency factor of the Mongoose M4 will be higher compared to ARM’s CPU and that the latter’s performance core will be able to drive the multi-core Geekbench score of the Exynos 9820 past 13,000.

That being said, it would be best to take this with a grain of salt for now as it’s still unclear what process technology Samsung will be using for the Exynos 9820. Some reports have suggested that it will be a 7nm chip despite claims that Samsung’s production line for 7nm chips may not be ready before early 2019.

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Here are a few changes we’re making to SamMobile 5.0 based on your feedback

We took SamMobile 5.0 live last week, and since then, many of our readers have sent in feedback over the new design. We have heard you loud and clear and realize that a few changes are in order to make SamMobile 5.0 better than it currently is. Today, we want to bring you an update on the changes we have made to the homepage for both desktop and mobile.

A major complaint our readers have had is that it’s not so easy to get to the latest news stories and coverage, so we’re making our Latest News category the first thing you will see every time you visit SamMobile.com. On desktop, we will still have the carousel for top stories, but if you visit on a mobile device, you will be greeted by the latest news stories. The Firmware News category is now located a couple of mouse scrolls below the news and reviews categories, with a Firmware Magazine widget in between for you to be able to quickly get information on firmware updates released by Samsung over the last seven days.

We also have other modifications in the pipeline, like an indicator for comments on every article on the homepage. We are also fixing bugs as quickly as we can, and we apologize for the problems that have slipped through on SamMobile 5.0. It seems we didn’t completely grasp how big and complex SamMobile has become, but we’re doing everything we can to get things back to normal and make SamMobile 5.0 the best iteration of the website yet.

You can see what the homepage will look once we have made the necessary changes in the picture below (this is only a sketch, so please ignore the inaccuracies with text or images in the picture). Let us know what you think, and keep sending us your feedback and reporting bugs that you come across by leaving a comment and through our contact page.

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Hands-on video shows off the beautiful new red and gold Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+

If there’s one thing Samsung loves doing, it’s teasing early customers of its flagship phones with newer color options that launch exclusively in some markets around the world a few months later. The company didn’t take nearly as long to introduce new colors for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, though. The Burgundy Red and Sunrise Gold Galaxy S9 and S9+ were announced a month ago, and while the red version is going to be exclusive to China and South Korea, the Sunrise Gold option will be more widely available.

But for many, both the red and gold Galaxy S9 and S9+ will be inaccessible, so pictures and videos online might be the only way for them to check the new colors out. To that end, you can get a very good look at the beautiful Burgundy Red and Sunrise Gold Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ in 4K glory in a video released by Korean YouTube channel underKG.

Burgundy Red remains as elusive as ever

For us, the Burgundy Red Galaxy S9 is the more beautiful option here. The Sunrise Gold model is a tad too bright compared to the more sober gold seen on the Galaxy S8 or Galaxy Note 8, although that doesn’t mean it’s not attractive, either. But it’s disappointing that Samsung has chosen to limit the Burgundy Red option to only two countries, leaving prospective customers in other markets drooling over a color variant they can’t officially purchase.

Check out the video above, then tell us which of the two new Galaxy S9 colors takes your fancy by leaving a comment.

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Is this why the Galaxy Note 9 has a horizontal dual rear camera like the Note 8?

A big battery is no doubt one of the more interesting rumors about the Galaxy Note 9. It’s a rumor that has persisted for months, with the exact battery size said to be somewhere between 3,850 mAh and 4,000 mAh. And it seems the larger battery might be the reason why Samsung has decided to keep the horizontal rear camera setup of the Note 8 on the upcoming flagship (as seen on the recently leaked renders of the device) instead of placing them vertically like the S9+.

Galaxy Note 9 battery size could be the main concern

Well, it’s either that or the fact that the S Pen takes up precious space inside Note flagships. As you can see in the image above, that requires Samsung to keep the battery dimensions thinner and taller compared to the Galaxy S phones to offer similar battery capacities. So, even without an increase in battery capacity, a vertical dual camera setup like the S9+ would be problematic on the Note 9. And going by the Galaxy S9 and S9+ battery sizes and the recent revelation that the Note 9 would be only slightly thicker than its predecessor, it’s possible the rumors of a big Galaxy Note 9 battery will turn out to be inaccurate.

Ice universe, who is the source of the picture you see above, has also shared images of what is apparently a protective case for the Note 9. The case looks like the plastic one Samsung has been bundling with many of its devices recently, and if it belongs to the Galaxy Note 9, it’s another indication that the rear camera design isn’t going to change over the Note 8. Thankfully, the fingerprint sensor will be positioned below the camera. And while it may be somewhat difficult to reach for those of us with not-so-large hands, it may be a necessary compromise because of how Note flagships are built.

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review test

The Galaxy A6 and Galaxy A6+ are rather odd concoctions, created by Samsung by mixing elements of its mid-range and budget smartphones. The Galaxy A6 and A6+ are also different from each other in more than just battery capacity and screen size. Like the Galaxy S9+, the Galaxy A6+ also has better camera specs. It’s not just a dual camera that the A6+ gets over the A6; it also has a higher megapixel count for the front camera.

At 24 megapixels, it’s the highest-resolution front camera seen on a Samsung phone, but then the company has gone ahead and equipped the A6+ (and the A6) with a microUSB port. That’s just one example of the things the new A series phones have in common with their J series brethren. The other is that metallic unibody, which is exactly the same as seen on last year’s Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7. The chipsets powering these handsets are also not very powerful, with the Galaxy A6 using the Exynos 7870 SoC and the A6+ getting the Snapdragon 450, both of which make do with eight Cortex-A53 cores.

Of course, the fact that the A6 and A6+ are different from any other smartphone in Samsung’s galaxy of phones is what makes them so interesting. And, today, we’re going to be talking about our initial impressions of the Galaxy A6+, which I was able to use for a day or so before making the switch to the Galaxy J6 (read my J6 hands-on experience here).

Samsung Galaxy A6+ initial impressions

The first thought I had on taking the Galaxy A6+ in my hand was that it’s rather big. It’s pretty much the same overall size as the Galaxy A8+, but it’s also a tad taller than the Galaxy S9+. That’s despite the A6+ having a 6-inch display, 0.2 inches smaller than the S9+’. It’s just another reminder that Samsung’s non-flagship phones with Infinity displays have much more bezel than the flagship devices.

It’s one of the reasons why we like the curved edges of the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note devices, as they at least allow the side bezels to practically disappear. Not so on the mid-range and budget devices. The phone is also slippery because of the metal on the back, though I’ll need a few more days with it to say if it’s a problem in day-to-day usage. As for the fingerprint sensor, it is fairly easy to reach thanks to the vertically aligned cameras, a benefit you may not have on the regular Galaxy A6.

The Full HD+ (2220×1080 pixels) Super AMOLED Infinity display, meanwhile, is pretty good. The colors don’t look too vivid, but that’s probably because everyone here at SamMobile is used to having Samsung’s Super AMOLED displays on most of their phones, making it all look alike after a point. Like the Galaxy J6, the A6+ has the display customization options that we see on flagship Galaxies with Infinity displays, so you should be able to tune the viewing experience to your liking.

Now, about those cameras. While I can’t say how the dual camera on the back performs right now, I did take a couple of selfies and compare them with selfies taken on the Galaxy A8+. The 24-megapixel sensor seems to capture just a tad more detail than the 16 MP camera on the A8+, but the difference isn’t easy to notice unless you zoom in on pictures. Color reproduction seems to be better as well, and the A6+ also produces brighter selfies without notably increasing noise. I’m yet to take selfies in natural light, though, so you will need to wait for our review for a proper verdict on the cameras.

One thing I didn’t like is that the A6+ comes with the camera interface from before the Galaxy S9. The Galaxy J6, for some reason, gets the newer UI. While the changes introduced in the camera app with the Galaxy S9 aren’t all for the better, it does result in software inconsistency that we thought Samsung had done away with. These devices launched around the same time, so there’s no reason one of them – the costlier one at that – should have to make do with older versions of some proprietary apps.

Our review is coming soon

There’s not much else I can say about the Galaxy A6+ at this point. On paper, it’s somewhat overpriced for what it offers. Missing features like fast charging and a USB Type-C port also make it clear Samsung’s aiming for the lower rung of the mid-range segment. It would be up to the high-resolution cameras, then, to make up for areas in which the A6+ is lacking. Whether that’s the case remains to be seen, so keep an eye out for our full review of the Galaxy A6+ in the coming weeks to see if it provides a real-life experience worthy of its price tag.

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SamMobile Firmware Update Magazine: June 11, 2018

Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly Firmware Magazine. You can think of it as your go-to resource to find out which of your Samsung devices has received a new update or if it’s going to receive a new firmware update in the near future.

To keep things interesting, we present the Firmware Magazine in new designs every week. It will always include the important details about firmware updates such as the firmware versions, device model numbers, Android OS versions and the country where said update is out already.

SamMobile Firmware Update Magazine

Keep in mind, however, that these firmware details are based on the firmware that are available in our database, and in some cases, the latest updates might not show in the same week as the full firmware files take additional time to make it to our database.

The purpose of this magazine is to bring all of that important information about firmware updates to you, the reader, in a manner that’s easy to comprehend—so even if you’re new to the world of firmware, you’ll have no trouble making sense of it all.

Click on the image below to grab the latest firmware magazine!

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